One brand, two hundred opinions about marketing.

Four decisions and a plan. Segments, services and unit priority, meaning which customers and which markets get funded; positioning and messaging, meaning the brand promise and what a franchisee may adapt; channel roles at national, regional and unit level, meaning what the ad fund buys and what the owner buys; and budget and measurement, meaning owners, spend by quarter and the numbers head office reviews. The output is a written marketing plan, not a workshop summary.

No. We are not franchise brokers, not a franchise development consultancy selling territories, and we take no commission on a signed agreement. We give no advice on your franchise disclosure document, franchise law, registration or financial performance representations. What we do is decide how the brand markets itself to consumers and how development marketing is targeted and measured, then write it down.

An agency executes a plan. This engagement writes one, and because we take no execution work inside it, the plan can say that a channel should be cut or that national spend should move to unit-level support. The deliverable includes a one-page brief written so any agency, including your current one, can deliver against it. Execution is scoped separately afterwards if you want us to do it.

A fixed fee quoted after a scoping call, with deliverables and dates written down before you commit. It varies with the number of units, brands and countries in scope and the state of your reporting, so publishing a rate would mislead most readers. For budget context, The CMO Survey puts marketing at 9.0% of company revenue on average across industries, with 33.6% of digital activity run by outside agencies. Book a meeting for a scope and a number.

By turning it into a written division of labour instead of a standing grievance. Each channel is assigned to national, regional or unit level with an owner and a measurable job, the ad fund's scope is described in plain language a franchisee advisory council can read, and local marketing gets an approved playbook by unit stage. We do not rewrite your franchise agreement or advise on what the fund is legally permitted to fund; that is for your counsel.

Rarely on its own, and the plan says so. We measure the spread and separate the part that is demand from the part that is operations, staffing or territory quality. Marketing money aimed at a unit that cannot answer its phone or staff its schedule produces complaints, not revenue. With multi-unit franchisees controlling 58.8% of locations, the plan is written for operators who will check that logic.

The promise can, the proof is local. We write a single positioning platform built on what the system can prove, then define what changes by market: which services lead, which local evidence is used, which offers are permitted. Franchisees get freedom where it helps and clear limits where inconsistency costs the brand. Nearly 30% of US franchise establishments sit in the Southeast, so regional weighting is usually a real question rather than a theoretical one.

Because a lead is not revenue and the cheapest leads are usually the least profitable customers. We rebuild reporting around unit revenue, average ticket, repeat rate and margin by service line, and on the development side around cost per signed operator who is still trading two years later. That reversal usually changes which markets and channels look successful.

Different question. Franchise growth consulting looks for the commercial constraint on growth wherever it sits, including unit economics, the ad fund model and the sequence of territories. Marketing strategy consulting takes the commercial model as given and answers what marketing should do about it: segments, positioning, channel roles, budget and measurement. Brands that already know their constraint usually want this one.

Yes, within the agreed scope, and it is the most useful hour of the engagement. We agree the list with you and include strong, average and struggling operators, because the last group knows exactly which brand promises the network cannot keep. Interviews are short and confidential, and findings feed the positioning platform and the local playbook rather than being published.

A sponsor, usually the brand president or chief executive; the development lead; operations or field consulting; whoever owns marketing today; and a small group of franchisees. Expect around two hours of interviews each in week one and a half-day decision session in week three. If the sponsor cannot attend that session, we move it rather than run it without them.

No, it is often the right first step, because the plan states what the team has to do and what stays with vendors. Where the question is really about structure and sequencing of hires, marketing team advisory covers it, and where you need someone to lead the function while you build it a fractional CMO is the engagement. Both are quoted separately and neither is required to use the plan.

Yes, and we will say plainly where it limits a conclusion. We work from financial records first, reconcile point-of-sale, CRM and call tracking against them, and label which findings are solid and which are directional. Validity's 2026 research found 62% of organisations losing revenue to poor CRM data and 67% having campaigns delayed or scrapped because of it, so this is normal rather than disqualifying. Marketing operations consulting implements the fix.

Yes, as a separate audience with its own funnel, message and budget. We define the operator profile that succeeds in your system, write the message aimed at that profile rather than at candidate volume, assign channel roles from portals and search through to referrals from existing franchisees, and measure cost per signed operator instead of cost per enquiry. We stop at marketing: qualification, disclosure and award decisions stay with your development team and your counsel.

Your team runs it, and every workstream has a named owner on your side. Many brands book a review at ninety days to check the leading indicators and adjust the sequence, which takes half a day and is optional. Where you want a standing numbers habit instead, scorecard advisory sets one up and hands it back. The parent engagement is marketing strategy consulting, and execution, if you want us to do it, is scoped separately.